Our Urban Town a Publication of the Staten Island Urban CenterOur Urban Town is a quarterly publication that shares thought provoking, intellectually provocative, community news, ideas and opinions from Staten Island's urban neighborhoods.

#reSIStah issue​in celebration of women's history month

​the Woke reSIStah Issue Our Urban Town publishes thought provoking ideas, intellectually provocative reflections, community news, and opinions from the very people in the community who passionately live and/or work with these issues. In this Woke ReSistah Issue, Our Urban Town shares the writings of women activists on Staten Island as a tribute to the contributions of women right now in this borough. Due to space constraints, these are just a small sample of women activists doing the work on the island, but our hope is that these writings inspire readers to be or continue to be activists, to share real stories, advocate for real solutions and to fight for real for the things they believe in. In the era of WOKE and RESIST, it’s our time to be activists everywhere we go and in everything we do.Kelly Vilar,​Editor of Our Urban Town & ​CEO of Staten Island Urban Center

Nicolas Vilar, New Brighton-NY Harbor School at Governor’s Island Student

Recreation spaces are a big part of a community, without it we have no place where someone can spend time doing activities from sports to arts and crafts. When Staten Island had Cromwell Center, they had many things for kids and adults to do. When we lost Cromwell, we lost the main hub that the youth had to spend their free time on weekends or after school. Although there are many places that people can go to spend their time doing different activities like basketball, baseball, football, etc. there are places specifically where you could do those things, but besides pick up sports, there is no place where you can partake in these activities for free. Recreation is very important because we need something like that in our community to help get people active and have kids spend more time being more productive. I personally have never been to Cromwell, but I have heard a lot about it, it was a place where you could do it all. When you wanted to play basketball, you could play on the many supplied courts, if you wanted to practice boxing, they had a ring. I thought that it was amazing that the Cromwell Recreation Center had much more than just sports and multipurpose rooms, it was a part of many people’s lives. Losing it after several storms, was a major loss to not only the waterfront community, but the whole north shore community. I was in little league almost all my life, and I noticed that I had been playing with pretty much the same kids every year just with different teams and I think to myself, where are the other kids, the ones who just want to play a quick game? I had not known that Cromwell had such a great influence on kids; that they had a place to play and hang out with their friends and stay out of trouble. Now that it’s gone, there are not many places for someone to go when their family does not have the funds for football or little league. A free membership to a multipurpose recreation center was something that was a beacon of hope for many youth in the north shore of Staten Island, because with that you can have kids working out or playing sports rather than being on the streets and put in harm's way. Cromwell might have not been for everybody, but for the people who needed it and want it back, we need to rebuild Cromwell.